Tea and Alliances
by breathmint25
Summary: Lily Potter and Molly Weasley have tea and discuss their boys. An AU story.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

Lily Potter took in the Devon countryside with interest as she strolled up the long road from Ottery St. Catchpole. She could have just apparated to her location, but she wanted a moment to clear her head.

Harry's first letter from Hogwarts had brought a myriad of emotions for Lily. He had been sorted into Gryffindor of course and James had been delighted. He had boasted to every person in the Auror Department and invited Sirius and Remus over for drinks. Long in the night the Firewhiskey flowed freely and loud toasts to "Harry, the next Marauder" were heard through the study door. Lily had merely shaken her head and smiled secretly—she was proud too after all!

But it was another part of the letter that most interested her. Harry had made a new friend on the Hogwarts Express. His letter had been full of details about "Ron". Ron had sat with him on the train. Ron didn't care about Harry's scar—he thought it was "wicked". Ron liked Quidditch. Ron was a Cannons fan, but that was OK—Harry was trying to convince him that it was Puddlemere all the way. Ron was really good at chess. Ron had more Chocolate Frog cards than Harry did and he couldn't find Agrippa either! Ron had 5 brothers and 1 sister ("Can you imagine that? And I thought just Amelia was bad!"). But best of all, Ron had been sorted into Gryffindor with Harry and had the next bed over! Ron, according to Harry, was the coolest.

Lily had been so pleased by the news—it was hard for Harry to make friends. Kids always wanted to be his friend just because of his scar and his fame, not because he was the most amazing boy in the world (in Lily's terribly biased opinion). She was ecstatic that Harry was finally getting the friend he deserved. From the sound of the letter, it seemed Harry and Ron were fast on their way to being best friends.

"Well I guess he's found his Sirius," James commented as she read the letter aloud at breakfast two days after Harry's departure. She had nearly burst into tears at the fond smile on his face. As she took in his expression, she couldn't help thinking of the cocky boy who had pursued her and the caring man he had become. She could still remember how he had looked that first day as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. All jaunty and charming, his hair wild with the September heat. Harry had inherited James's looks and charm, but none of his father's cockiness thankfully. It was her temperament and temper inside her son. Even so, with a partner in crime, who knew what could happen!

"Merlin help his professors," she said with a grin, "a new generation of Potter and Black."

It hadn't taken James long to find out that "Ron" was Ronald Weasley, youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. He had the whole of the Auror Department resources at his fingertips after all. He had scurried down to the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office that first week of September and made acquaintance with Arthur, pronouncing him a "kind, but odd" wizard. Arthur was apparently fascinated with Muggle objects and had asked James all about the Muggle devices they used in their home.

Lily was pleased to discover that Ron was a Weasley. She knew of the Weasleys—everyone did. They were older than the Potters when it came to Pureblood lineages. They were also known for their "unconventional" beliefs—it was unheard of for a Pureblood family to be so pro-Muggle. Lily was relieved though—Harry and Ron would have similar values then. Harry needed some good male friends. He still felt girls were "weird", a state of affairs Lily knew would change sooner than she would like.

"There can never be a pair as great as Black and Potter, but Potter and Weasley has a nice ring to it. They'll be the second generation of Marauders." Sirius had pronounced when he and Remus came to dinner before their drink fest with James.

"If only we could give him the map…." James said mournfully. Lily glared at him.

"I'm glad he can't have that map! It's bad enough to give him the cloak!" James had decided he would give Harry the cloak as a Christmas present when he came home from term, as he was now perfectly capable of being invisible without it. Lily had protested, but Marauder tradition and pride had won out.

No doubt the cloak would cause both Harry and Ron to get into trouble and how would she explain THAT to Molly and Arthur? Lily shook her head.

She smiled as she reached the Burrow's front gate at last. She hoped Molly Weasley would be a good friend. Despite the fact that she was 10 years older than Lily and had already had her first child by the time Lily and James had entered Hogwarts, Lily felt they had a lot in common. They were both redheads for a start, most likely with similar tempers. More importantly, they were both mothers, with children of similar ages. Ron was only 5 months older than Harry, and Ginny, Ron's younger sister, was 10 to Amelia's 9. Lily knew if they could find nothing else to discuss, they could talk at length about how wonderful Harry and Ron were. But she was hoping a friendship would develop between the two families. She wanted Ron to come to stay at Godric's Hollow in the summers for a week or two and possibly set up play dates for the two sisters.

As she took in the house that was so different than the Potter home in Godric's Hollow, she felt excited. This was a welcoming home with its chickens and pile of boots on the front step. She could picture the seven Weasley children running about this yard—and she could see Harry among them too.

She hadn't been planning to meet Molly Weasley so soon. She had figured the Weasleys and the Potters would meet at King's Cross come December and then perhaps she and James would invite Molly, Arthur, and Ginny over for tea during the spring term. But James had enlightened her that in order to establish an "alliance" between the two families, she and Molly needed to meet as soon as possible.

"An alliance?" she had scoffed.

"It's the Pureblood way." James had replied.

Indeed it was. She had found out that to some families, alliance-building was very important. Narcissa Malfoy had apparently sent out green-and-silver invitations to the mothers of those children she deemed "suitable acquaintances" for her first year son Draco before he had even left for Hogwarts! Sirius spoke about his mother throwing a huge feast for the parents of his "suitable acquaintances" the night of September 1st, only to be horribly shamed the next day when she discovered he had been sorted into Gryffindor. It was only when Lily began receiving her own invitations from Pureblood mothers who considered Harry a "suitable acquaintance" that she realized how important it really was. So she began to wait for Molly's invitation. Here too, a Pureblood quirk came into play. Even though the Weasleys were an older Pureblood family than the Potters, Lily was in charge of arranging her meeting with Molly.

"That does not make any sense!" she had exclaimed when James informed her of this fact. "Harry's not even Pureblood!"

He shrugged grimly. "Our standing is better than theirs. Molly wouldn't dare contact you first. But I bet she's waiting for your owl."

Lily had been living primarily in the Wizarding world for more than twenty years now and some things still made her shake her head at the silliness. Still, she had sent off Persephone with a note asking Molly to tea. They had ultimately decided that they would meet at the Burrow because unlike Amelia, Ginny did not go to prep school. Molly home schooled her and it would be easier to keep her home. So here was Lily in Devon, three weeks after the start of school—a tad late for her alliance-building tea.

The door opened and Lily got her first glimpse of Molly Weasley. She was a plump, kindly-looking women. She was about Lily's height, and her hair was just as red as Lily's as well, but a slightly lighter shade. She was scurrying about furiously, Banishing the boots and shooing the chickens into their pen. Lily opened the fence, intending to help with the shooing. At the noise, Molly spun around wildly.

"Mrs. Potter!" she exclaimed, "You're early!"

"Yes…well the trip took less time than I thought. Oh and please call me Lily Mrs. Weasley!"

"No, no, call me Molly."

"Of course."

There was a moment of silence. Lily felt like a moron. The trip was shorter than she thought? Apparation took five seconds! She could already hear it now: "Ron, stop being friends with Harry. His mother's an idiot."

"Can I help you with the chickens, Molly?

"Oh no, oh no. I'll just leave them. Come in, come in."

And so Lily followed Molly into the house.

The inside was just as cozy as the outside. The kitchen was humming as foodstuffs flew about. A plate was being scrubbed in the sink and plates were settling onto a tea tray. Lily licked her lips at the tray. There were at least three kinds of biscuits, pastries, crumpets, scones, jams, and a large pot of tea. Enough to feed an army—but Molly was used to feeding a lot of people, Lily realized.

"Shall we sit in the parlor?" Molly inquired.

"Anywhere's fine!" Lily said hastily.

And off to the parlor they went. But as they passed through the house, Lily could see the charm of it. There was an interesting clock, a piano, dozens of childhood drawings, old books, and finally a wall of pictures. Lily couldn't help it—she stopped to look.

There were pictures of all sorts of occasions. Births, Quidditch games, vacations, Christmases, birthdays, school outfits, a picture of one of the children standing in front of a pyramid, another wearing a prefect's badge, and even one family picture with all nine Weasleys present. But Lily was looking for Ron—she wanted to see the boy her Harry thought so highly of.

She found him in a picture that looked fairly new. There was the one who must be Ron—tall and gangly, with knobby knees and disorganized hair, wearing a bright orange faded t-shirt. A typical 11-year-old boy no doubt and Lily couldn't help but smile. He was standing next to a girl who must be Ginny and he had an arm around her. An old broomstick was in his other hand. The two were tickling each other and poking their tongues out.

"That was taken the day before he left for school. Ginny insisted on it. She misses him something fierce, even if she won't admit it. They're the closest in age and they spent two years here alone when the twins went off to Hogwarts." Molly had realized her guest was not with her and doubled back.

"Just like Amelia and Harry. Whenever Harry's letters come, Amelia's so eager to see. Read it Mum! Read it! But of course, no mentioning that she's sad he's gone. Goes on and on about being an only child though.."

Molly nodded in understanding and the awkwardness faded. They entered the parlor and began to talk properly at last.

"Was it hard to see Ron off? It nearly killed me seeing Harry leave. But you're used to it by now. I mean Ron's your 6th one."

"It was still hard though. Oh it gets easier in the sense that you're less nervous, you're more prepared. But leaving each one on the train is a challenge. And it only gets worse when they graduate—they go off to Egypt and Romania and you only get post once a week. The day after Ron left, I woke up expecting to hear Ron and Ginny having a row over the bathroom as they always do. But there was nothing—pure silence. It was so unsettling that I wandered downstairs to find Ginny merrily brushing her teeth. Alone."

Lily understood perfectly. The night of September 1st she had sat on Harry's bed for nearly an hour after tucking Melly in, wondering if her little boy was getting to bed all right in Gryffindor Tower.

"I don't know how I'm going to survive when Amelia leaves."

Molly shuddered.

"I don't even want to think about Ginny going away. My whole adult life has been my children!"

Lily thought back on her own life—how she had worked in the Department of Mysteries and with the Order for two full years after Hogwarts. Even after she became pregnant with Harry, she worked as hard she could for the war effort. It wasn't until their family of three had been forced into hiding that she gave up her work. Then that horrible Halloween night had come and after that, protecting Harry was a full-time job. She had been terrified to leave him with a nanny, afraid they would sell pictures and information to the press. So James went back to work and she became a stay-at-home mum. It certainly hadn't been what she had been planning as a 7th year. But now, she was content with her role in life. She still did part-time work with the Ministry, and she was looking into full-time work once Amelia went off to school. But to have NOTHING but her children? She couldn't handle the thought.

Molly had caught her expression.

"I know I'm not as modern as your generation. I always wanted to be a wife and mother above all. I heard about your work at the Ministry."

"And do you approve?" Lily felt strangely defensive. She wanted Molly Weasley to like her, and not just for Harry's sake. She felt slightly like she was an 11-year-old again. After all, Molly had SEVEN children to her two. And she was just a Muggleborn, whereas Molly had centuries of magical blood backing her name. Even though Lily had long ago established her place in the upper level of the Wizarding World, she still felt doubt in the face of such history. She waited anxiously for Molly's answer.

"Of course, I approve! For goodness' sake, us mothers cannot be attacking each other! What example will that set for our children?"

Lily let out a breath and smiled.

"How pragmatic of you."

"Raising seven children has taught me nothing but pragmatism!"

Lily laughed.

"Too true!"

"What is important Lily, is that you and I have similar moral beliefs and we have passed those beliefs onto our children. Ron and Harry will make a good pair because of that. My Ron's a good boy, I assure you of that!"

Lily could only smile, because she was afraid of crying tears of gratitude. Harry would have his much-deserved friend at last.

"I must confess though, Molly, I believe James and Sirius are interested in corrupting Harry and Ron will undoubtedly be dragged into it unfortunately. I've tried to talk James out of…"

Molly threw her head back and laughed, interrupting Lily's apology.

"I raised Fred and George, Lily dear. I'm not worried about a little corruption. In fact, they'll have to compete with the Twins on who gets to corrupt Ron and Harry first!"

Lily could only marvel. Ron really was the perfect match for Harry it seemed. And to think how worried she had been! She decided to let go of her fears, and merely enjoy Molly's company at last.

"With that Molly, do you think I could corrupt you into giving me your pastry recipe? These pastries are divine…"

And the conversation continued. They talked of everything—of hobbies, of household spells, of Celestina Warbeck, of mutual acquaintances, of husbands, of their own times at Hogwarts. By the end of their alliance-building tea, Lily Potter and Molly Weasley were not only allies, but also friends,

And when Lily exited the front gate, she turned back and took in the Burrow again. At that moment, she didn't know that she would eat numerous dinners there, and spend Christmases there, that she would sit by the Burrow lake in the summers, or that one day she would watch her son be married in the Burrow's backyard.

What she did know was that the Potters and Weasleys were going to have one hell of a partnership.


End file.
